Beto O’Rourke showcased his air-drum skills following his debate with Ted Cruz as the Democratic senatorial candidate rocked out to the Who’s “Baba O’Riley” while waiting in a Whataburger drive-thru line.
ICYMI: Beto O’Rourke went to Whataburger after the Ted Cruz debate last night and played the airdrums to Baba O’Riley pic.twitter.com/XimtqmikNj
— Alex Thomas (@AlexThomasDC) September 22, 2018
“This may be the best song ever written,” O’Rourke proclaimed of the Who’s Next classic. The impromptu air-drumming was part of a 45-minute live-streamed video that O’Rourke shared on Facebook following the much-anticipated debate with Cruz at Southern Methodist University.
Soon after, O’Rourke and a few campaign staffers waited on the drive-thru line of a nearby Whataburger when the Who song came on the radio.
The El Paso, Texas politician of course has well-documented musical chops: In the early Nineties, O’Rourke played bass in the punk rock band Foss alongside future At the Drive-In and the Mars Volta member Cedric Bixler-Zavala.
“I was into Minor Threat, I was into the Rites of Spring,” O’Rourke told Rolling Stone, adding that he had an affinity for DIY label Dischord Records. “They started their own label, they pressed their own records, they wrote their own songs, they booked their own tours and they set conditions, like: you’re not gonna pay more than five bucks to come into this show. You’re not gonna pay more than 10 bucks for this record. Our shows are gonna be all ages, everybody can come in.”